Windows keeps removing pinned folders from Quick Access

chinino · Dec 16, 2022

Hi guys,

I don't know what I am doing wrong, but after the 22H2 update, my user-added pinned folders keep disappearing. I have tried a lot of different approaches found on this forum and in Google searches, but it keeps on happening. It's so annoying, because is quite a few of them, that I am thinking on wiping out Win11 and going back to Win10.

Thanks in advance for your help.

These are my specs:

Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 22H2
Installed on ‎10/‎10/‎2022
OS build 22621.963
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22638.1000.0

Brink · Dec 16, 2022

Hello chinino,

If you like, you could see if clearing and resetting your Quick Access folders below may allow you to keep any pinned folders afterwards if it's just a gltich.

Clear and Reset Quick Access Folders in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to clear and reset Quick access frequent folders back to default for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Quick access in the navigation pane of File Explorer (Win+E) allows you to quickly access and view your pinned locations, frequent folders, and recent...

www.elevenforum.com

chinino · Dec 20, 2022

Brink said:
Hello chinino,

If you like, you could see if clearing and resetting your Quick Access folders below may allow you to keep any pinned folders afterwards if it's just a gltich.

Clear and Reset Quick Access Folders in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to clear and reset Quick access frequent folders back to default for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Quick access in the navigation pane of File Explorer (Win+E) allows you to quickly access and view your pinned locations, frequent folders, and recent...

www.elevenforum.com

Thanks, Brink,

I have tried that already. It just gave me back the standard folders, then I added again the ones I need, and after a few hours, they are gone again. I think I am getting closer and closer to wipe out Win11 and going back to Win10,

Brink · Dec 20, 2022

In that case, go ahead and post some screenshots showing what is getting removed highlighted to see if anything may stand out.

johnlgalt · Dec 20, 2022

Definitely would like the screenshots. Something to consider in the meantime: are you using any of those 'cleaner' applications like CCleaner that might be removing those items you keep creating?

chinino · Dec 20, 2022

Thanks for the quick reply, guys. Here's a pic showing the folders that I keep adding, because they keep disappearing.

Brink · Dec 20, 2022

Are these folders located on a network or removable drive?

If so, they could be getting removed if the drive becomes unavailable or disconnected.

chinino · Dec 20, 2022

johnlgalt said:
Definitely would like the screenshots. Something to consider in the meantime: are you using any of those 'cleaner' applications like CCleaner that might be removing those items you keep creating?

No, I am not using one like that. I do use, though, StarDock Groupy, Start11, and Fences, but I was using them before this started happening (after 22H2).

chinino · Dec 20, 2022

Brink said:
Are these folders located on a network or removable drive?

If so, they could be getting removed if the drive becomes unavailable or disconnected.

No, they are on my D drive (SSD that I added to hold data, but it's not removable).

chinino · Dec 20, 2022

They are gone again

DelaD · Jan 7, 2025

Just out of curiosity: Was there ever a generic fix found for this issue?
I see this happening to more and more users within my place of work now and we have no idea why it suddenly started happening or how to fix it permanently.

Only thing we keep doing is restoring them from Previous Versions, which in some cases helps to fix the issue, but in most, the items just disappear again after a while (20 minutes to a few hours)

johnlgalt · Jan 9, 2025

First of all, Welcome to Eleven Forum, aka 11F, @DelaD!

(@Brink - unless I'm mistaken, aren't these stored in the registry somewhere? It sounds like some sort of aggressive registry cleaning for user profiles in this latest question from @DelaD)

In the meantime, everyone, we have a tutorial here to backup and restore the locations that you pin to Quick Access.

Backup and Restore Quick Access Pinned Folders in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to backup and restore Quick access pinned folders for your account in Windows 11. Quick access in the navigation pane of File Explorer (Win+E) allows you to quickly access and view your pinned locations, frequent folders, and recent files from one location in...

www.elevenforum.com

At the end of the first post are related tutorials relating to pinning items in Quick Access as well.

I realize this is not the answer as to why this is happening, but in your case, @DelaD, I believe it really is a matter of contacting your company IT dept to see if they are performing any user profile cleansing or some such procedure, perhaps nightly or weekly, that might be causing this. So, until they can provide more info, this is, at best, a workaround.

Brink · Jan 9, 2025

johnlgalt said:
(@Brink - unless I'm mistaken, aren't these stored in the registry somewhere? It sounds like some sort of aggressive registry cleaning for user profiles in this latest question from @DelaD)

I'm not aware of a registry reference for these anymore. Just in the "%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations\f01b4d95cf55d32a.automaticDestinations-ms" file.

johnlgalt · Jan 9, 2025

Ugh. I wonder why this was moved to file based only?

DelaD · Jan 9, 2025

johnlgalt said:
First of all, Welcome to Eleven Forum, aka 11F, @DelaD!

(@Brink - unless I'm mistaken, aren't these stored in the registry somewhere? It sounds like some sort of aggressive registry cleaning for user profiles in this latest question from @DelaD)

In the meantime, everyone, we have a tutorial here to backup and restore the locations that you pin to Quick Access.

Backup and Restore Quick Access Pinned Folders in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to backup and restore Quick access pinned folders for your account in Windows 11. Quick access in the navigation pane of File Explorer (Win+E) allows you to quickly access and view your pinned locations, frequent folders, and recent files from one location in...

www.elevenforum.com

At the end of the first post are related tutorials relating to pinning items in Quick Access as well.

I realize this is not the answer as to why this is happening, but in your case, @DelaD, I believe it really is a matter of contacting your company IT dept to see if they are performing any user profile cleansing or some such procedure, perhaps nightly or weekly, that might be causing this. So, until they can provide more info, this is, at best, a workaround.

Hi John,

Thanks for welcoming me. I'm afraid contacting the IT dept wouldn't help much, since I'd be contacting myself :)
We don't do any profile cleaning, especially not on the computers that are impacted by this issue, since it would break a lot more than just their pinned folders.

I have actually tried to replace the f01b.... file with an older version, but even this does not permanently fix the issue.
Something seems to be overwritting or hitting this file, causing the pinned items to disappear, but we just cannot find what or why.

I will keep digging, but thanks for responding. It is much appreciated!

johnlgalt · Jan 10, 2025

Lol - didn't realize you were the IT person. My bad.

As for what is over-writing it - that is a tough one. Does your workplace employ any networked drives at all?

DelaD · Jan 13, 2025

Yes, we actually redirected the appdata roaming portion of the users' profile to their home directory.
So, the f01b... file is in their home directory, but not directly visible to the user.

Next to this we have a bunch of network drives to file server locations.

johnlgalt · Jan 13, 2025

If you have a test bench setup, might try taking an unused laptop and using it without the remapped appdata and see if that makes a difference. I suspect it won't - but it might be the missing info here, and something that you'd then have to send up the chain to Microsoft to see if this is something unintended on their part when doing this.

Of course, if I'm right, and it doesn't make a difference, then it gets weirder....

Windows keeps removing pinned folders from Quick Access

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